Cigarette package



June 2, E932. H. H. STRAUS MSM-,871

' CIGARETTE PACKAGE Filed Oct. 12, 1929 IIL-- Patented Junev 28, 1932 UNITED STATES HARRY H. STRAUS, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

CIGARETTE Pacman Application led October 12, 1929. Serial No. 399,201.

This invention relates to an improved package made u of thin, fibrous material, with little or no lnherent stiffness, such as paper, thin cardboard, tinfoil or a combination of these and has for an object. to combine with such package a stiffener made of cardboard 0r similar material, which will serve to stiifen the package or' container to prevent distortion thereof and injury to the contents, and

is at the same time so shaped and cut and combined with the package and contents thereof as toform a convenient means for tearing an opening in the package which will possess a regular configuration, leasing to the eye, and a convenient means or extracting the contents.

A further object is to roduce such an opening without the use 0 tools or similar adjuncts, but merely by the useof the fingers of the purchaser who may tear open the package quite easily and quickly.

Articles which are sold for a nominal price are often placed in paper 'packages which insufficiently protect the articles themselves against crushing or other forms of distortion. For instance, in packaging the more popular brands of cigarettes, a paper and tinfoil cover is used to protect the contents-- When the package is full, and before it is opened, the cigarettes themselves, because they are tightly bundled to ether oer some resistance to crushing an distortion, but

even under these conditions this resistance is not very great and-often the contents are crushed or broken before the package is opened. After part of the contents have been removed the resistance of the tightly acked bundle is reduced to the resistance o a few loosely packed cigarettes in a paper cover 40 and the remainder of the cigarettes are often either partly or wholly crushed before theyv may be entirely consumed by the user.

ecause of this undesirable condition, certain manufacturers have been quite successful in marketing stiff leather receptacles for receiving a package of cigarettes and which serve to protect the cigarettes until the last one is consumed, but these receptacles are heavy and inconvenient to carry and use.

Manufacturers of the more expensive brands overcome this diiiiculty by selling their cigarettes in cardboard boxes, but these boxes are too expensive to be commercially practicable for the more popular brands, and so it is still a further object of this invention to combine with a cheap', light weight paper package a stiifening means which will be inexpensive to produce and apply to the package and which will furnish suflicient resistance to preserve the contents of the packc3 age until the contents are entirely consumed.

I have shown my invention as embodied in a package of cigarettes but do not wish to be limited to cigarettes or other tobacco products, inasmuch as this particular style of packagemay be utilized for many commodities.

I have also shown the aperture or opening in one corner of the package, as this seems to be a convenient'way of extracting cigarettes, '(0 but I wish it to be understood that some other part of a package may be torn off if desirable when this invention is used with other commodities.

Further features and objects of the inven- 7 tion will be more fully understood from the following detail description of the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a package of .cigarettes 'embodying by invention and 8o closed and sealed as they would be sold to the retail customer in a. tobacco shop.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the removal of a corner of the package by utilizing the cardboard s til'ening member con- 85 tained therein.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the package after a corner has been removed.

Fig. 4 is a perspective viewofl the stiifening member itself which is adapted to be placed` inside of the package.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view partly cut away, showing the stiifening member in place with a paper or tinfoil cover around the stifening member-and cigarettes and illustrating how this cover may be folded at the corners.

Fig. 6 is a right sectional view through 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Looking at the drawing, and especially at 109 Fig. 1, P illustrates a package of cigarettes, made up of an outer paper covering 2 usually having the printed information it is desired to impart printed on the outside thereof, such as names, trademarks, guarantees and instructions, and having one corner cut into a. substantially triangular opening 3 by removing a triangular piece from the upper left hand corner of the front of this covering (Fig. 1), and a triangular piece from an upper right hand corner of the narrow side illustrated in Fig. 1 and adj acent to the piece cut from the front side of the cover so as to entirely remove the outside covering from one corner of the package, thus leaving exposed the tinfoil covering which is underneath the outer covering.

The usual internal revenue stamp is placed at the top of the package and in a position where it must be torn or otherwise defacedin opening the package.

1n packing the cigarettes C they are placed within the stiffening member 5, illustrated in Fig. 4, which is cut to substantially the width of the desired package and of such a length that when folded over, as illustrated, will entirely surround the contents of the package. As clearly shown in Fig. 4, this strip comprises a long ribbonlike member which may be made of cardboard or other suitable fibrous material which is folded upwardly to form the bottom 6 and two sides 7 and 8 respectively of the stiifening member and then folded inwardly to form the top of the package, which is made up of end pieces 9 and 10, the former being slightly longer than the latter, the two end pieces joining each other at a point to the left (Fig. 4) of the center line of the package, the result being a. closed rectangle of the same height as the cigarette to be enclosed therein and of suiiicient width and depth to accommodate the desired number of cigarettes.

A cut or slit 11 extends diagonally downwardly from the upper left hand corner of the narrow side, illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 nearly to the opposite edge of the stiffening member but not quite all the way, thus forming a line of weakness so that flap 10 and the small triangular part attached thereto and forming part of the side 7 of the package may be easily and quickly torn off. Instead of a slit, such as that shown at 11, a series of perforations may be used to weaken the stil'ening member along the desired line.

When the cigarettes are placed within this stifening member and the top portions 9 and 1() folded down, as shown in Fig. 6, the wrapping 15 which is usually made up of tinfoil lined\ with paper, may be applied to the stiiiener and cigarettes in a manner illustrated in Fig. 5, that is, upper part 9 of the stiffening member may be folded down on top of the cigarettes, then the tinfoil folded thereon, as shown at 16, and then the shorter side 10 may be folded down and the tinfoil cover on that side folded in a similar manner.

There is no necessity for describing in detail any of the methods for wrapping or packaging because the addition of the stifening member 5 does not change the application of the tinfoil package or the paper cover on the outside thereof, as these may be put on in the usual way. In fact, the stiffening member will facilitate. the application of this covering because it will tend to confine and hold the cigarettes in a neat substantially rectangular formation.

After the tinfoil covering has been applied, the outer covering 2 may be put on in the usual manner and it does not differ fronf the coverings now in use except for the removal of the triangular corner thereof, as illustrated in Fig. 1, and finally of course, the usual internal revenue sta-mp 20 may be pasted over the top of the package to seal the whole. i

When the purchaser wishes to open the package of cigarettes there is more than one way in which the cover of the opening may be removed but one convenient method is for him to insert his fingernail under flap 14 and tear it backwardly across the revenue stamp 20 to the rear edge 21 where it may be turned back as shown in Fig. 2 or torn off entirely as shown in Fig. 3. The remainder of the cover may be removed with the aid of the detachable portion of the stifening vmember by grasping the top thereof near edge portion 21 and pulling it forwardly, thus tearing the tinfoil cover down along line 22 which is dened by line 11 of the stiifening member and across the revenue stamp 20 from the rear edge 21 toward the front edge along a line defined by the end of top 9 as shown in Fig. 2 and finally downwardly along diagonal line 23 to line 22 where the portion of the stiiening member and the tinfoil may be entirely disengaged leaving the package as illustrated in Fig. 3.

The stiening member is also advantageous-in holding in place the cigarettes which are packed between top 9 and bottom 6, after the package has been opened and the cigarettes immediately below the opening removed, because the remaining cigarettes stay wedged between the top 9 and the bottom 6 and will not slide out under the opening in the package to drop out and be lost or crushed. In fact a sharp tap is generally necessary to loosen the cigarettes suiiiciently to allow them to fall out and by proper regulation of the intensity of the tap one or two cigarettes may be disengaged-to fall forward under the opening while theremainder stay in place under the top 9 where they are fully protected. A

The result of this construction is a cigarette package or container with suiicient stiffness and strength to prevent distortion of the cigarettes before the package is opened and after it has been opened, but in addition means are provided for enabling the purchaser to quickly and easily make a neat and convenient opening for removal of the cigarettes without entirely opening up one side of the package but instead only a part of one side so that sufficient of the package and stilfening member is retained to .protect the cigarettes until the last one is consumed.

Whereas, I have described my invention by reference to specific forms thereof, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

l. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiffness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising av stifl'ening member associated therewith in co-operative relation thereto to impart strength and rigidity to said package in the direction of its minimum dimension, said stifl'ening member having two adjacent edges substantially coextensive with two adjacent edges of the package, the body of said stiffening member being provided with a slot to permit of ready tearing and removal of a portion of the stilfening member at and adjacent said slot to define boundry lines to facilitate detaching a portion of said package of regular and predetermined configuration to make an opening therein for the removal of the contents.

2. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiffness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stiffening member associated therewith in cooperative relation thereto to impart strength and rigidity to said package in the direction of its minimum dimension,said stiffening member having two adjacent edges substantially coextensive with two adjacent edges of the package, the body of said stiH- ening member being provided with a slot to permit ready tearing to facilitate detaching a piece of said package edge portion of which are. defined by the edge portions of said stiening member.

3. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiffness. said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stifi'ening member associated therewith in cooperative relation thereto to impart strength and rigidity to said package and comprising a strip folded along four sides of the package and possessing a diagonal edge on one side thereof extending interiorlv of the contour of said strip Aand adapted to faciitate the removal of a portion of said package and to aid in dening the shape of said portion.

teriorly ofits contour to facilitate the re-r moval of part of said inner covering to form an opening therein defined by an edge portion of said stiffening member to allow the removal of the contents of said package.

5. The combination, a package comprising material having'little-inherent stiffness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stifi'ening member having contour edges disposed substantially coextensive with corresponding edges of the package arranged to strengthen said package against distortion, said stiff'ening member further comprising a portion provided with a slot extending interiorly of the contour of its edges to be readily detachable with a portion of said package to form an opening therein.

6. The combination, a package comprising material having little inherent stiffness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stiffening member having contour edges disposed substantially coextensive with corresponding edges of the package arranged to strengthen said package against distortion, said stiiening member further comprising a part provided with a slot extending interiorly of the contour of its edges to be readily detachable therefrom and associated with said package in a manner to facilitate removal of part of said package to form an opening therein.

` 7. The combination, a package comprising material having little inherent stiffness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a tiffening member having contour-edges disposed substantially coeXtensive with corresponding edges of the package arranged to strengthen said package against distortion placed inside of said package, said stiii'ening member further having a portion provided with a slot extending from one edge of said stii'ening member toward but spaced from another edge to be readily detachable with that portion of the package immediately adjacent -thereto to form an opening in said package of definite and predetermined shape and configuration.

8. In combination, a package comprising material having little inherent stiffness, said material being imporforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stiif'ening member associated with the inside of said package, said stilfening member comprising a portion provided with a slot eX- tending from one of the edges of saidstiening member toward but spaced from another edge of said stiffening member at an angle to adjacent edges of the package, whereby said portion of said stienmg member is readily detachable from said stiffening member and .adapted during detachment to facilitate the removal of portion of the package along lines defined by a slot edge of said portion.

9. In combination, a package comprising material having little inherent stiffness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stiffening member between said material and the contents thereof comprising side, bottom and top portions adapted to protect the contents of said package, said stil'ening member having a slot extending from one of its edges toward but spaced from an adjacent edge to provide a readily detachable portion of said stiffening member adapted during detachment to facilitate removal of portion of the package along lines defined by the edges of said slot.

l0. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiifness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stiffening member associated therewith, said stifening member having at one end thereof a slot extending from its one edge toward but spaced from an adjacent edge and at an angle to edges of the package whereby to provide a readily detachable portion adapted during detachment to facilitate the removal of portion of the package along lines defined by the edges of said slot.

11. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiffness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stiifening member associated therewith on the inside thereof, said stiffening member having a slot extending from one edge toward but spaced from an adjacent edge, the direction of extension of said slot being at an angle to adjacent edges of the package, whereby to provide a readily detachable portion adapted duringdetachment to facilitate the removal of portion of the package along lines defined by the edges of said slot.

12. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stifness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stifening member associated therewith on the inside thereof, said stifening member including a strip of relatively stiff material folded around the contents of the package to conform to the direction of minimum dimension of the package, said stiffening member having a slot disposed adjacent one end of the package and extending from one edge of said stiifening member toward but spaced from an adjacent edge of said stiening meniber and at an angle to the plane of said package end to provide a readily detachable portion adapted during detachment to facilitate the removal of portion of the package along lines defined by an edge of said slot and the contour of said package end.

13. In combination, a package comprising material possessing little inherent stiifness, said material being imperforate within the outline of the package and further comprising a stiening member associated therewith on the inside thereof in the direction of minimum dimension of the package, the edges of said stifening member substantially coinciding with corresponding edges of the package, said stiifening member having a slot extending from one of its contour edges toward but spaced from another of its contour edges, said slot being disposed closely adjacent one end of the package to provide a portionof said still'ening member closely adjacent said package end to be readily removed by grasping a portion of said material at said package end and to tear said material at an edge portion of the package adjacent said package end at an angle to the plane of the package end.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification this 10th dav of October, 1929.

I-I. H. STRAUS. 

